Easter 2012

Easter was so much fun this year!! I love having two children and I cannot wait to add more to our family. Each one brings such an amazing amount of love and joy!

Of course we hide the Easter baskets at our house, why would the Easter bunny hide eggs and not the basket? Ruark's basket was in the pantry, he was so excited to get a balance bike! He loves riding it around.

Rhett was crawling all around playing with his little toys. His basket was just hidden behind the chair where he could easily find it. We planted jelly beans this year and came out to find candy had grown up overnight! The kids loved it! It was such a special day!

My Focus

The past year has flown by and I haven't been updating this blog. This blog hasn't been my focus, I have poured everything I have into my children. Enjoying every minute with them and getting my health back. It's been a long few years but I finally am feeling more like myself, So it is time I do a little catch up on our blog.

Life is moving at the speed of light! I feel like all I did was blink and Rhett is one and Ruark is almost 4! But we are so happy to be together again. I started doing yearly photo books and having them printed at Shutterfly.com. I LOVE them and it is so great to have a hard copy of all my favorite memories and catalog our years together. I just finished 2011 and now I'm working on 2010. If you watch for deals you can get them for free and only pay for the shipping!!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

New York

In January we took off to New York to see our best friends. It was a great trip and we had so much fun over those 10 days. Ruark still asks for Alex almost every day. We can't wait to see them again!

Here's the first bunch of pics, too much fun for just one post!

Our little dog with a big heart

On April 16th we lost Calliope. It was a really low blow. The vet was calling us and keeping us informed she was dehydrated after a seizure and needed some fluid. Her temperature was a little low too so they wanted to keep her to observe her. He said that she would be fine and I could take her home soon. Just half an hour after getting off the phone with him he called to say her temperature dropped and she slipped into a coma and passed away.

Her last few days were hard on her but we all thought she would pull out of it. I can't believe how hard this has hit me, I didn't know I loved her so much. Calliope has always been Chase and Ruark's dog, maybe that why it hurts so much. I watch Chanelle and the boys walk around heartbroken all day. I have to keep explaining to Ruark thy she is gone which makes it all resurface.

Not long after she died I kept thinking where is she, I know where humans go and the Plan of Salvation. But where do dogs go. My heart broke thinking that she was just gone. I felt like I was ripping in two thinking that she was gone and her spirit had no where to go. How do others who are not of my faith go on after the loss of a family member?

I started googling church literature on the matter, I couldn't sleep and I just felt empty. I ran across some greta information to share. I'm sure very few people care about their pets as much as we do for ours, but I hope some will gain a little peace from these quotes.

Moses 3:5
And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth.

Quote:
The spirits of animals are in the likeness of their bodies. The spirit is eternal and does not change. The spirit of an elephant looks like an elephant; the spirit of man looks like a man. This is true of all creatures under Heaven. Therefore, the body of the creature cannot change and evolve into something different and still look like its spirit. This principle is simply stated by the Lord that there might not be misunderstandings. (Sacred Truths of the Doctrine and Covenants Vol. II, p. 38)

Quote:
They [animals] will be resurrected and placed in their appropriate places in Heaven. As the fall of Adam affected animals, (see Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:22) so also through the atonement will the animals be heirs of salvation in their respective spheres. (Sacred Truths of the Doctrine and Covenants Vol. II, p.38)

Quote:
We also learn from this revelation and the word of the Lord in other revelations that in the eternities the animals and all living creatures shall be given knowledge, and enjoy happiness, each in its own sphere, in "their eternal felicity." These creatures will not then be the dumb creatures that we suppose them to be while in this mortal life. (Sacred Truths of the Doctrine and Covenants Vol. II, p. 69)

I read these quotes over and over again the past few days. We buried her out at my mom's an hour after she passed. Her body was still warm while we held and placed her in the box. Ruark put in some candy for her, a family picture of us all together and a picture of jesus. We wrapped her in her favorite blanket and said goodbye.

We went to leave the house and I kept calling Calliope to go home instead of Chanelle. We cried all the way home and talked about what an amazing dog she was for our family. She always made us feel loved.

When we got home I let Chanelle out to go potty and had the strangest feeling I was letting both dogs out. I watched closely and I realized no there is only one. I let Chanelle back in and went in to rock Rhett to sleep. Under the tree in his nursery I had the strangest feeling that she was there and I cried and told her how much we love her and we will miss her. I talked for a while and finally exhausted from all the tears I carried Rhett to bed with us while I wrote in my journal. It was all such a jumble in my head I just really needed to process it all.

Halfway through my entry I dazed off thinking about Calliope while I held Rhett in my arms. All of a sudden Rhett reached up and grabbed my lip and yelled down really hard. It snapped me out of it and Chase and I started laughing because that was what Calliope did to us whenever she wanted our attention. Rhett looked deep into my eyes and smiled and turned away from me to look about a foot away and reached out and started petting the air looking at the same spot while a big smile the same way he used to with Calliope. Chase and I looked at each other and said what is going on? Rhett turned back to me again and once again pulled on my lip, looked deep into my eyes and turned again to pet the air and smile at the same spot.

I was so heartbroken that we weren't there with her the last two days because she was at my Mom's and then at the Vet's everyone was doing everything they could to help her. I wish we had held her when she passed away, that we had known she was that sick. How were we to know, the vet didn't! We were there when her spirit went to heaven and she came to say goodbye.

We miss her, all of us. The small spot on our bed where she slept every day for 5 years seems like a crater. How could something so small take up such a place in our heart? We love her and can't wait to see our little puppy in heaven when we get there. I'm at peace that my future children are their with her and she knows them and feels as loved as she did here in our home.




I

Ruark turned 3!!

I am so excited to present our Candy Land birthday party extravaganza!! I tried to make most of the decor look like candy rather than putting out too much candy. I could just imagine how happy all those parents would have been to have all kids sent home hyped up on sugar. I had planned for each child to decorate their own gingerbread house but finally decided at the party with all the confusion to just send each child home with their own kit.

Rhett was happy to entertain the Grandma's! I didn't hold him for more than a minute or two during the party because everyone was loving on him. He loved all the attention and just smiled and watched everyone.

Four Generations!

I left out all my Christmas decor that had anything to do with the Candy land theme.

Ruark couldn't believe his eyes when he walked out to find the house looking like this! He was running around yelling, "my party!!" "LOOOK!!!!"

We played pin the tail on the donkey and the prize was the Candy land game. We put the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on downstairs for the kids to watch.

The kids LOVED the gift boxes this year and I have to say they were pretty fantastic and full of great toys including ice cream cone shooters, lollipops, spinners, punch balls, candy, gingerbread crayons, pinwheels, stickers and rainbow spinners.

Me and my little 3 year old!

Christmas flew by and days later I was breaking down all the decorations to make room for Ruark's 3 year birthday party!! What to do for the most amazing little boy I've ever known. Well he LOVES the game Candy land, candy and colors are a big part right now. So we pulled it all together and I have to say it turned out FANTASTIC!!!

I started out by covering all the couches with white sheets for the winter wonderland and also to help protect from stains. I covered most everything with buffalo snow which I scored for 90% off after Christmas! It was a great backdrop against all the bright decorations.

We covered Ruark's door with streamers and covered the floor in balloons for when he woke up. He had been talking about his birthday party for days and was so excited when he woke up to everything decorated. It was a long night, but I wanted to spend every minute possible with him on his special day.

Ruark and Rhett after Ruark's special breakfast. I was all set to make a huge breakfast with sausage, eggs, waffles and fruit. But nope Ruark wanted a peanut butter and jelly sand which. His FAVORITE food in the world. He asks for one for every meal. :) He was SOOO excited he finally got one for breakfast!

The huge tree is part of our "licorice forest" :)I found it on Oriental Trading for 15!! On sale from 80.00!

We made lollipops with balloons, cellophane, curling ribbon and balloon sticks. We covered presents to look like candies, using tissue paper, cellophane and more ribbon.

We made "hard candies" by putting balloons inside cellophane and using bright curling ribbons on each side.

Sadie made Rock candies by taking some bright wrapping foil from the dollar store cutting it into squares and attaching them to a wrapping paper roll. They were so cute!

We finished off the night with fireworks, some MAJOR ones my brother brought back from Missouri. We shot off 3 to celebrate 3 years! Here's Ruark with Sam and Noah his best buds and cousins.

We waited and prayed for so long to have kids and we are so excited every year to plan their parties. It takes work but it is totally worth it. Ruark talks every day all day long about his party and how much fun it was. The kids loved it too and I'm already mulling over ideas for next year and Rhett's party in just 6 months!! Our house was full of family and kids running around together, we are so blessed to have so many family and friends who were able to make it to celebrate our his birthday! I still can't believe my baby is 3!!! Oh but what an awesome 3 year old he is, we could not be more proud!

Things happen for a reason

My focus the past few months has not been my blog. I spent so much time curled up in bed dealing with pain and filled with fear that now I'm all about living life! I'm more active then ever before, enjoying my two boys, my husband and my GREAT health! It's been a busy few months.

I've noticed more and more that my balance is REALLY REALLY off. It had been most of my pregnancy. When I was about 22 weeks pregnant I had just got home from church and I was standing in my bathroom when all of a sudden I started tipping over. My arms clung to the side of my body and refused to move and I fell like a tree *TIMBER* and slammed into my tile floor. OW! After years of dance and gymnastics I couldn't understand HOW my body not only fell over but my arms REFUSED to react. I was completely stunned and laid on the floor for a good 20 minutes. Well fast forward to now. My AWESOME brother is finally back in town and opened up his own family practice I asked him to adjust me.

He laughed at me when I told him how I've been really off balance the past few months until he looked at my feet. They were INCHES off. I can't remember the medical terminology but my hips are REALLY messed up. After pulling and pulling they are getting better but still a work in progress. When I asked how they could get this bad he told me I must have hit them really hard to get them this far out.

That's when a huge *A-HA!!* moment came to me!!! For months my doctor couldn't believe I hadn't gone into labour, Rhett should have been born extremely premature. My hips weren't aligned therefore he couldn't descend even with all the contractions. To the angels in heaven who held my arms to my side and shoved me over, THANK YOU!!! I feel incredibly blessed!